Thursday, November 08, 2012

Voters Protect Schools, Pass Prop. 30, Defeat 32

SACRAMENTO—California students and working families won a clear victory today as voters clearly demonstrated their willingness to invest in our public schools and colleges and also rejected a deceptive ballot measure aimed at silencing educators, other workers and their unions.

“Today’s vote signaled that Californians believe in the value of public education and investing in our students and schools,” said Dean E. Vogel, president of the 325,000-member California Teachers Association. “They want to see funding restored to our schools and colleges. They want to stop the tuition hikes and class size increases. They want to see students have music, and art, and libraries and access to counselors and nurses. They want to see our schools flourish and our students succeed.”

Passage of Proposition 30 will stop $6 billion in midyear cuts to our schools and colleges. In addition, local communities will receive funding to keep police on the street and our state can begin to pay down the wall of debt it’s amassed over recent years.

According to President Vogel, the passage of Proposition 30 was a vote for tax fairness—ensuring that everyone is paying their fair share to build a better California—and the defeat of Proposition 32 was a vote for political fairness.

“This hard-fought victory for democracy exposed the real agenda of the corporate special interests behind Proposition 32. Those millionaires and billionaires never cared about the checks and balances of our democracy, only the checks they could write to buy even more political influence in Sacramento and Washington,” said Vogel.

For the third time in less than 15 years, California’s voters rejected similar ballot measures intentionally written to silence the voices of working men and women and their unions.

“The voice of educators and other workers are stronger now from these victories. CTA members will continue to speak out and fight for our students, our public schools, our colleges and our profession.”

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The 325,000-member California Teachers Association is affiliated with the 3.2 million-member National Education Association.